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Giants' pot-holes of Mt. Sumbra
geotrail description
 



gps starting point:
44.061464 10.287757 (WGS84)

difference in altitude:
+ 62 - 62 m

difficulty:
E (EE in sections)

time:
0:40 hours



Pot-hole in the Anguillaja ditch
 

After you have parked the car at the edge of the provincial road n. 13 Valdarni (687 m above sea level), leading to Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, you have to start walking along an old cart track, which goes on the left and down towards the Turrite Secca river.

After 250 m you reach the watercourse, that, as a rule, is completely dry, as characterized by sub-riverbed water flow.

After walking for a while the arid bottom towards north direction, while the auction draws an embedded meander, you immediately meet on the left the confluence of the Anguillaja ditch (650 m above sea level), largely amended by the old marble quarries and their abandoned debris.


Quarry
ing activity has also deleted the first 'pot-holes' that existed in the lower part of the same ditch, artificially shaping his bottom and its side walls.

The Anguillaja is an intermittent stream in temporary arrangements on the occasion of significant rainfall, which has some remarkable pot-holes, described for the first time by Masini (1929).
 


 

Before the '70s, the last 300 m of the ditch descending from Mt. Sumbra, showed 13 large pot shaped cavities. Their number was then reduced to the destruction produced years ago from the abandoned quarries of the lower watercourse section. The survivor pot-holes, now protected by the Regional Park are easily observable continuing the short route along the Anguillaja.

The climb of the ditch is relatively easy in the beginning, and the first morphological step is passed through an aluminium staircase. This leads to the spectacular succession of three poth-holes of considerable proportions, completely carved in marble. Further along the path is required the use of the practice of grip in climbing abseiling and rock climbing.

*   *   *

From the main road to Val d'Arni, 650 m before Anguillaja stream, the Fatonero ditch can be easily identified, of which you can view the latest 400-500 m stretch, descended from Mt. Fiocca. The pot-holes are numbered in descending order from the upper part of the ditch; they are around 21 and of similar size to those of the twin ditch.
They too
are carved in marble by water.
 


 



Note
: The
 complete lift of the Anguillaja and Fatonero ditches requires the experience and ability of expert hikers (EE), since in the paths there are also 3rd grade passages. 
In any event, the visit to the 'pots' should always be addressed in fair weather; in fact, in case of rain, the river bed of the stream, polished by the waterbecomes impractical
.

 


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